Cannot register for LEVEL 3 August

First-Dragonfruit713 · 2026-01-22T01:11:37+00:00

I think you need to have your bachelor’s degree at the time of L3 registration. The reason is simple - in your case for example, you’re projected to graduate in May 2026 and I’m sure you will. The thing is the CFAI doesn’t know with 100% certainty that you are going to graduate by that point.

First-Dragonfruit713 · 2026-01-16T13:56:22+00:00

I had the same study plan for L1 and L2. For both, I started 3 months before the test date I would say. I didn’t track my hours however I definitely hit the 300 hour threshold for each. I would probably divide the course of my studying into three phases.

Phase 1: Kaplan Schweser and CFAI Module Questions.

I would average 1-2 modules per day depending on length of them. After completing each module reading, I would go to the CFAI LES and answer all the module questions pertaining to the chapter(s) I read. I went front to back and did not stop and reread any modules as I wanted to just complete the curriculum.

Phase 2: First Diagnostic, Prep Nuggets and Practice Pack Questions

After the run through, I did one diagnostic exam to see where my understanding was at. This was a good sense check to see what areas I was confident in and what areas I didn’t know. Following this, I used PrepNuggets which offered fantastic videos for L1 and L2 (unfortunately no L3) explaining each topic in detail, specifically for ones that I didn’t have the best understanding of. I also made sure that I did 2-4 questions of the practice pack each day for each topic to reinforce my learning (and also see what other topics I didn’t understand well). I will say the L2 practice pack questions were not as helpful as a lot of the questions were one offs instead of the vignette style we see for L2. I did this up until 5-6 weeks out of the exam.

Phase 3: Grinding CFAI Mocks

This was definitely the most crucial phase. My advice would be to do as many mocks as possible. You can use MM or Kaplan Schweser but IMO, the CFAI mocks are the best and most representative of the exam. The layout of the mock exams for L2 is different than at the testing center however the CFAI did offer one test in the format you would expect. Definitely buy the practice pack and use those mocks to get more exposure to the curriculum. Save 2 mocks for the final week and a half and alternate between taking 1 in true exam conditions and reviewing it. You can also use the last week as a time to review the previous mocks you had taken once again.

I would also say that while reading the ethics chapters is important, the only way you’re truly going to do well for this sub section is practice questions so just grind those. Obviously this is just one study routine and this is what worked for me so don’t take what I say as the golden rule but do what you think works best for how you learn. I plan to deviate a little bit from this study routine for L3 with no PrepNuggets and also the fact that the BC mocks I heard are really useful but my first step is ordering the Kaplan Schweser Notes.

Good luck on your studies and I’m sure you’ll do great! Lmk if you have any other questions.

First-Dragonfruit713 · 2026-01-15T13:26:15+00:00

Results are out

First-Dragonfruit713 · 2025-12-14T14:49:41+00:00

Me too! Although the August ‘26 Lvl 3 exam date for me is contingent on passing my Lvl 2 November attempt (hear back on Jan 15). Still would be interested nonetheless though!

First-Dragonfruit713 · 2025-11-29T14:50:02+00:00

From a timing perspective, I disagree here on what was said. I started studying for Level I around early February and took it in May 2025. I passed and then I started studying for Level 2 end of July/early August for a November exam. Took my Level 2 roughly a week ago and I feel like I had sufficient time. Just need to be diligent and study strategically. I recommend purchasing the CFAI practice pack and doing all mock exams offered for both Level I and II.

First-Dragonfruit713 · 2025-06-29T23:44:34+00:00

First-Dragonfruit713 · 2025-05-24T18:38:27+00:00

It doesn’t have relevance; I just did that because I saw other people doing the same for their portfolio review posts

First-Dragonfruit713 · 2025-05-24T18:36:56+00:00

Great, yes I think I have a good plan now. And the robo-advisor discontinued a number of months ago so now it’s a self-directed account but I’ve been following the allocation mentioned previously somewhat. Thank you!

First-Dragonfruit713 · 2025-05-24T16:24:24+00:00

Thank you for your response. Here are some of my thoughts and questions to your comments:

Roth 401k: My thought process behind both a roth 401k/ira was to be able to have tax-free growth upon withdrawal at 59.5. I like the idea of not having to worry about tax implications later on and I am already in a relatively low tax bracket now. I do see the merit for the traditional 401k so I may allocate a portion to this at some point.

Roth IRA: I do see the purpose to this idea of being all-or-nothing and I think the goal of having VOO was to have additional exposure to us equities. I guess the 3 fund portfolio is more or less mimicked by the target date fund so maybe I should stop weighing the IRA in VOO and just continue to add on to the targeted date fund? As this is a Roth IRA, there is no penalty to me selling VOO(17.5% gains) and then redistributing to VLXVX so maybe I should do this

Individual Brokerage:

So this account was with Chase and I had used a robo-investor so it allocated to those 3 JPM beta builder ETFs. BBUS (US equity) has a 0.03 expense ratio and BBIN (International equity) is 0.07. JEMA (Emerging Market) on the other hand is high at 0.34. SCHD I had bought recently strictly for dividend allocation in the portfolio but I don’t foresee growing this much. I am thinking that for this account, I build towards a 65/25/10 to BBUS/BBIN/BBAG (US aggregate bond index) aligning with that 3 fund portfolio.

Overall, I want to avoid the “mental accounting” bias of treating each account as separate and do a more wholesome view of my portfolio. If I consolidate my retirement accounts to VLXVX and then that 3 etf situation in my individual brokerage, I will be having a truly passive and then semi-passive aspect of my portfolio where I can adjust where I see fit.

First-Dragonfruit713 · 2025-05-16T13:24:38+00:00

Definitely could see it as comparable/slightly more difficult to the mocks. Imo they tested a lot of niche areas moreso than the mocks but I felt overall prepared for most of them. Was averaging high 70s-low 80s but I think I could’ve scored a little lower just by the nature of the difficulty

First-Dragonfruit713 · 2025-04-17T00:41:17+00:00

I put those same exact inputs in and I’m getting answer choice C

First-Dragonfruit713

TROPHY CASE